


In Any Reality

by IncendiaGlacies



Series: Doomworld AU [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, RipFic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 03:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10800411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Eobard Thawne is a smart man, there’s no way he makes the same mistake twice. In other words, a Doomworld AU where Thawne takes away Gideon from Rip as well in order to prolong the torture of losing everyone. Gideon POV





	In Any Reality

**Author's Note:**

> This is a different writing style than I feel I'm used to and I edited out a lot of the angst and it has a happier ending than I intended, but one that fits the characters better I think. 
> 
> Warning for tenses changing (I did do it on purpose) and Human!Gideon and also there’s a Timeship kiss? But it’s only like a few lines (like in the episode) Also, let me know if you want Rip’s POV for this story

It starts when she first meets him. Up until then she’s fairly certain she can say that she can’t pinpoint a more significant moment in her life – not that she would ever tell him that. But it starts when she meets him, the prisoner – Rip Hunter

She hears it down the grapevine that Mr. Thawne requires her presence in the tunnels, though she can’t understand why. As Mr. Thawne’s secretary, her job is to do the necessary paperwork and make sure no one asks too many questions – including herself. Still, he’s the boss so she makes her way down to the tunnels following the sounds of Mr. Thawne’s voice.

“And you see? All the vigilantes out, one by one. Flash went first, that was nice. Then the pesky Green Arrow – your little friend Sara helped out with that one. And now Black Canary, your chances of hope are dying out,” Mr. Thawne addresses the prisoner in front of him. Not that she can see him through the glass, not from her angle anyways. Quietly, she clears her throat alerting her presence. She knows better by now than to interrupt him when he’s talking. He does love his speeches.

“Ah there you are,” he raises out a hand ushering her to join him. Slowly she walks over to his side and turns to the prisoner as positioned. Mr. Thawne wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his side than she cares for. It takes all her effort not to squirm out of his grasp.

“And of course, this is my personal secretary, Gideon.” She watches a triumphant look cross Mr. Thawne’s face as he declares the words to the prisoner. Only then does Gideon actually take the time to look at who it is.

The prisoner’s hair is in disarray and he looks like he’s in need of a shave, honestly. But it’s the look on his face that makes her breath catch. His eyes are filled with nothing but fury when he eyes the hand Mr. Thawne has placed around her. But not in the way most men do. She’s seen the way they look at her, of course she has. Like she’s nothing but a pretty face, never mind that on top of being Mr. Thawne’s secretary she is also in charge of the IT security protocols. But the prisoner doesn’t look at her like that, it’s like he barely even registers her physical appearance. The second he faces her he looks so…so defeated. And sad. Like all the life and happiness has been sucked out of him. Like he’s been betrayed.

“That will be all,” Mr. Thawne turns her away from the prisoner before she has a chance to hear his voice. It doesn’t escape her notice that Mr. Thawne’s hand hasn’t left her side, not until they’re out of view from the prisoner.

“Mr. Thawne-” Gideon starts.

“Gideon, that was Rip Hunter. He’s going to be staying here for a while,” she doesn’t question what he means by that, “I think it would be good if you would be so kind as to bring him the news every once in a while. Let him know what is happening with some people. Tell him how happy you are here. You are happy, right?”

She doesn’t miss the bite in his question, “Of course Mr. Thawne.”

He smiles, all teeth and no sincerity, “Good.”

Rip Hunter. That’s where it all begins

\--

She has looked after prisoners before (she must have, she feels like she has) it’s just another hidden job description. She has full intentions of doing exactly what Mr. Thawne says and nothing more. She is used to routine. Unfortunately, Mr. Hunter doesn’t seem to want to comply. Their first meeting hardly goes as expected. He interrupts her before she even has a chance to read the headlines on the newspaper while she gives him his food tray.

“You must remember me,” he’s looking at her with an intense pleading look.

“Of course, I only met you three days ago. My memory isn’t that bad,” Gideon smiles. She knows Mr. Thawne wouldn’t appreciate kindness to the prisoner, but he looks harmless in his glass cage.

“No. Before that,” he continues to look at her as if simply staring at her will unlock all the secrets of life, “Please, Gideon. If you don’t remember, I don’t know what I’ll do. Please.”

She almost wants to say yes, just to please him. Almost. But her duty is to Mr. Thawne, “Mr. Thawne told me you might be interested in knowing about the death of Spartan. Another vigilante.”

“No. Please, please. You have to try and remember me. Please, Gideon,” he continues to plead and she can do nothing to help, “You really don’t remember. It seems there is no hope for me after all.” With that he collapses on the floor, scrubbing his face with his hands and pushes the food out of reach before flipping the tray over and throwing it at the glass wall. At her.

Gideon flinches on reflex, she has been witness to one too many outbursts from Mr. Thawne. She watches as the prisoner instinctively reaches out a hand to her, before remembering the glass that separates them.

“Sorry,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.

“You really shouldn’t have wasted your meal like that. He’s not going to give you another one for today,” she says just as quietly.

He pins her with a look, “So his plan is to starve me? I’ve had worse forms of torture.”

Gideon stays quiet.

“Do you even care?” he asks.

“About?” she answers.

“If I die. If he starves me to death,” he clarifies. She feels as though she’s being tested, but she doesn’t know the answer he wants.

“No,” she says robotically. It was the first rule with prisoners – don’t care for them, don’t get attached. She watches as his face falls, the heartbreak on his features. Realizing she cannot bear to face the pain she turns away resolving to let the guards collect the tray from him.

Quietly from behind her she hears, “Well then neither do I.”

\--

That’s how it starts, but this is how it goes. Somehow the prisoner has resolved that he still holds some sort of power and changes the rules of the games.

“I brought you a newspaper, and your meal,” Gideon greets as always, her hands are full with the toy Mr. Thawne gave her just before, telling her to burn it after showing it to the prisoner. After their first meeting he’s been silent. No matter what the news has been. He has always kept silent, though she watches as he clenches his jaw often, a shiny film in his eyes. That was how it went for the last few weeks, this time it’s different.

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Gideon raises an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to hear about another vigilante death. I don’t want to know anything else about what Thawne has done to ruin the very threads of reality.”

“And what would you propose we do instead? Mr. Thawne was very explicit in his instructions with you.”

“I don’t care about Mr. Thawne,” there is a fire in his eyes as he speaks, “Tell me something else. Something good, please?”

She opens her mouth to continue about the headlines but there is something in his expression that makes her change her mind, “Like what?”

He tilts his head and looks at her, “Tell me about you. About your life here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she makes to turn away.

“Gideon, please?” it’s the way he says her name. Soft and filled with kindness.

Turning back slowly she responds, “What do you want to know?”

He shrugged, “What’s your favourite colour?”

“My favourite colour?” she almost laughs at the ridiculousness of the innocuous question. Quite seriously though, the prisoner nods.  So she sighs, “Green.”

“Why?”

“Do I need a reason?” Gideon asks annoyed but he just looks at her expecting a reason so she sighs, “I don’t know. It’s calming, like home.”

He chuckles and looks up at the sky, “Of course it is,” he looks back at her, “What is that in your hands?” She had almost forgotten about the toy.

“Some toy spaceship. Mr. Thawne wants me to burn it. He told me to show it to you, but you didn’t seem interested in caring,” she points out.

He curses and hits the glass once, Gideon tries to cover her flinch but he still notices and an apologetic look crosses his face, “You can’t burn it.”

“Mr. Thawne gave me explicit orders to do so,” she narrows her eyes at him.

“He probably also gave you explicit orders to not be nice to me and you are.”

“I can change that if you’d like,” Gideon threatens.

Clearly she needs to work on her threats because he doesn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated, “No you won’t and we both know that. You care too much about me, in any reality.” She refuses to dignify that with an answer.

“Will that be all?” she asks somewhat sarcastically.

Either he doesn’t catch on to the sarcasm or he simply doesn’t care (she has perfected her tone of voice there is no way he could miss it) because he just reiterates his request, “You can’t burn it. You won’t.”

As she leaves, Gideon tries hard to remember Rule One and clamps down on the fluttery feeling in her stomach mixed with the irritation. He wants her to defy her boss’s orders. For the first time in a long time – forever maybe – she is actually properly looking forward to the next day if only because it will be different. And if the toy gets shoved into one of her desk drawers instead of a fire pit, well Mr. Thawne will never find it anyways.

\--

It continues like that. The prisoner refuses to listen to any news, insisting he would rather know about her. And so he asks a dozen questions, the strangest ones and he questions her answers constantly:

“What’s your favourite food?”

“Ice cream.”

“What kind?”

“Rocky Road.”

“Why?”

“It has chocolate and marshmallows, what else would I choose?” That makes him laugh.

Other times he asks more difficult questions, probing ones:

“How far can you remember back?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your life here, how long have you been working here? Where do you live? Do you have a family? A husband? Kids?” the last few questions come out slightly choked.

“I’ve worked here for as long as I can remember.”

“What about your childhood? What was that like?”

Gideon frowns, “I had a car accident. Can’t remember much before then. Don’t remember my childhood, or my family. If I had one.” She can see his mind working, wanting to ask more questions but maybe she has a look on her face that stops him from delving more into it.

“And now? Husband? Kids?”

“That’s personal,” she teases.

“I’m interested,” he insists.

“Why?” with any other man it would be because he wants to date her, because he thinks she’s pretty and that’s it.

“I want you to be happy. If I can’t be happy in this world, then you should at least be. One of us should be. It would make this worth it,” he’s giving her that intense look again. She doesn’t always understand his statements ‘this world’ ‘alternate reality’ and he goes on about a spear sometimes, but she knows he’s truthful in his sentiment.

So she responds, “Not married. No kids. But I’m happy.”

“Are you?” it’s like he knows her every thought. Gideon decides that is the end of the conversation.

One time he asks her to read to him:

“I only have the newspaper,” she says. She had just finished recalling the day about how Sara and Amaya had visited with Damien Darhk. Mr. Thawne said the prisoner would appreciate that, and he was still the boss. He didn’t appreciate it, instead he closed his eyes and asked her to read him a story.

“Well then tell me a story. Any story. Surely you know a good one?”

“I don’t,” Gideon is at a loss, “I can read you the comics section?”

He smiles properly at that, “Yes that will be good. I enjoy the Garfield ones.”

“Very well.”

Still other times he doesn’t want to talk at all, instead favoring to just look at her, memorizing her face and voice. She doesn’t like to think of those days, he looks far too sad then. She makes sure to continue with Mr. Thawne’s instructions though, Gideon knows how he gets when his orders aren’t followed. She makes sure she doesn’t spend too much time with the prisoner, only to bring his meal and she only stays for a half hour. It wouldn’t do for Mr. Thawne to realize she was going soft on a prisoner. But Rip Hunter was just different from the others.

And sometimes, rarely, but sometimes she will ask her own questions:

“Why do you say my name like that?” she asks.

He frowns in confusion, “Like what?”

Like she’s something precious, to be protected. Like he can’t believe she’s real. “Like you care about me? Why do you even keep talking to me?”

“Because I do care about you, I always have and I always will. You’re all I have left, Gideon,” he states it as a fact.

“Why? You barely know me.”

“Well I’ve been down here for a while, and you visit practically every day.”

“You’ve been down here for nearly a year.”

“Always good with time, you were.”

“And that. Why do you say things like that? Like, like you’ve known me before.”

“Because I did. I’ve already told you. The Legion of Doom used the Spear of Destiny and rewrote reality and-”

Gideon rolls her eyes, “Please not this again. Can’t you come up with a better story? A real one?”

He has that defeated look in his eyes again, “It is true. We were friends. I cared about you and you cared about me. A lot.” Gideon huffs and looks away, she would be stuck with the madman of a prisoner.

“While we’re talking, why do you never call me by my name?” he asks.

“Rule One is to not care for or get attached to prisoners,” Gideon replies succinctly.

“Are you saying you care about me?”

“Of course not,” Gideon avoids eye contact as she answers.

He gives her a look again, “I hope for your sake you’re a better liar to Thawne than you are to me.”

“I think we’re done here,” Gideon starts cleaning up hoping the conversation is over. As always he has to have the last word.

“Say my name?”

“What?”

“You never say it. Ever. Even when someone else is with you, you just refer to me as ‘the prisoner’. Say it, just once?”

Gideon sighs, “Rip Hunter, are you happy now?”

He shakes his head, “No. But thanks for trying.”

Of course, everything has to come to an end. Her bizarre relationship with the prisoner is no different. She starts the conversation this time. She’s having a bad day and it’s only progressively getting worse. In fact the only bright spot might just have been visiting the prisoner, or at least it was.

“In this other reality, your ‘real world’ how did we know each other?”

He looks up at that, “Do you believe me? Do you remember?” his hands are pressed on the glass and there’s an eagerness in his eyes.

“No. It was only a question.” He sighs and when he doesn’t start talking she presses, “Well?”

“We were friends, I told you already.”

“But how?”

“I was a time traveler, as you well know.”

“Yes, yes. Captain of the Waverider. Ex-Time Master but rogue status and you traveled with a team which apparently included Sara and Amaya. And Mr. Rory.”

“Yes.”

“But what about me? You never talk about me. You just expect me to know.”

“You were there, I want you to remember on your own,” he insists.

Gideon sighs, there is no point in telling the prisoner that this other reality is a delusion, he would never accept it.

“I was your Captain,” he says.

“I was a part of the team?” Gideon prods.

“Yes. But we had been traveling together even before that. I’d only had the team for the last year or so. You and I have been traveling together for over a decade.”

“That’s a long time,” she breathes.

“Yes. It is, you can’t have just forgotten it all. Of course, Thawne rewrote your reality. Now he’s your boss I suppose.”

“Why would he do that?”

“In case it’s escaped your notice I’ve been imprisoned for the past year. We don’t get along. Having you answer to him, it’s just pouring more salt in the wounds for me.”

There was something off about his story, something he wasn’t saying, “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing, I’m telling you everything.”

“You’re lying, I know you are. You’re keeping something from me,” Gideon cries.

“It’s nothing important,” he rushes.

“It is if you’re insisting on keeping it from me. What is it?” the prisoner stays silent, “Please? Please, Rip?”

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair turning full circle before he looked at her. He places his hands against the glass and leans against them, “I need you to understand, we were friends. You were probably my best friend. And we traveled for a very long time. All of that is true.”

“But,” she continues for him.

“You weren’t…you were my AI, my AI and my friend,” he hurries.

“An AI,” Gideon repeats trying to ignore the way her throat closes up at the thought.

“And my friend,” he insists.

Gideon’s vision blurs, “I was an Artificial Intelligence. A computer.”

“A computer who could think and feel for herself,” Rip tries to clarify.

“I wasn’t human,” Gideon raises her voice, “I was a – a piece of code in a machine. And that’s the world you want back. A world where I’m not real, one where I don’t exist.”

“You are real,” Rip argues fiercely.

“A world where I don’t matter,” Gideon hits back, “That’s what you want.”

“Gideon…”

She shakes her head, “No. No, I don’t care. I – I hate-” her voice breaks, even now in her anger she can’t hate him. Instead she turns on her heel and leaves.

She can hear the banging on the glass as he tries to get her attention, “No, please Gideon! That is not what I want, Gideon-”

Gideon blocks out the shouting, not watching where she was going as she trudged up her way out of the tunnels. This was why you didn’t get attached, it only led to pain later on. On her way back to her desk a man runs into her, papers falling everywhere. He barely has time to yell out an apology as he continues running with the security guards chasing after him.

\--

She’s working the late night as she usually does these days, and she is explicitly ignoring all thoughts of the prisoner, when she hears the ruckus. There’s a crash and yells and then several people tumble into her office. Among them Sara, Mr. Rory, Mr. Jackson, a janitor, the man who hit her the other day…and the prisoner. Outside of his cell.

“How did you get out?” Gideon immediately backs out of her chair, ready to call for security.

He holds out his hands in surrender or maybe to calm her down, “Gideon, please.”

“That’s Gideon?” the janitor asks.

“Wait what?” the other stranger asks.

“Be quiet, both of you,” Sara shushes them, “She doesn’t know who we are, Rip.”

“I can fix that,” he has his hand on something in his coat pocket.

“Stay right where you are,” Gideon takes a few more steps back, knowing she’s backing herself into the corner, but the button for security is also there.

“No, Gideon, please. Please, don’t do that,” Rip holds out a hand before she can call for security.

“Why should I listen to you?” she asks angrily.

He begins to slowly walk around the desk like a hunter approaching his prey, “Because you know what I said is true. You know that I mean something to you. And you know that if you call security now, they will kill me. Please.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” her voice wavers.

“Because I know you. I know that in any reality your love and loyalty for me can never be properly erased. Never.”

“Because I was your AI?” Gideon spits out.

“Because you are always there for me, always. You’re the one that guides me through everything,” he’s moving closer to her and she’s flat against the wall with nowhere to run by the time he’s right in front of her, “And I know I’m right because I gave you enough time to push that button and you didn’t. Because you trust me.”

Then he takes something out of his jacket and there’s a flash of light in front of her.

The memories hit her like a train. But in all of them he’s there. Meeting him, watching him play with his son Jonas, worrying where he is when he disappeared. He’s always there, a constant thread. Her Captain.

He looks at her worriedly and she can barely breathe. How could she forget? How could she ever forget her wonderful Captain? The one that always came back for her and promised he would never leave her. And even in an alternate reality where she was cruel to him, he never gave up on her. She can feel eyes burning as she holds back the tears. And being human, which brings on a whole different wave of emotions, much too complex to even comprehend. So for now she focuses on her anchor, her Captain.

“Captain Hunter,” she breathes, it’s the easiest thing in the world right now.

Then his lips are on hers and he’s pressing her against the wall. She can feel the relief pouring off him as one hand cups her cheek and the other holds onto her waist. She takes the time to enjoy the feeling of his arms enclosing around her, protectively. It’s like coming home.

From behind him she vaguely hears someone’s throat clearing.

“Hey!” It’s enough for them to break apart, a slight red tinge to her Captain’s cheeks. He gives her an apologetic look which she simply smiles at. Behind them Captain Lance is staring incredulously, “Okay, um not that we’re not happy for you two but we’re still stuck in Doom World. And Thawne just destroyed the Spear of Destiny, so it’s only a matter of time before reality sets in.”

“Right, Sara’s right,” Captain Hunter takes a step back from her.

“And I’m assuming you have a plan,” Gideon asks.

“It’s not a good one,” her Captain grumbles.

“We need to break the first rule of time travel,” Captain Lance says.

“You want to travel back in time to stop Eobard Thawne from getting the Spear of Destiny in the first place,” Gideon extrapolates, “You do realize-”

“That we might cause time to fold in on itself? Yeah, we thought of that,” Dr. Palmer says.

“We don’t have any other choice. This world is Doom World. Amaya is dead,” Dr. Heywood explains.

“And Grey is still brainwashed. He wants nothing to do with us, with me,” Mr. Jackson continued.

“Everything about this place is wrong and sucks basically,” Mr. Rory finished.

“Not everything,” her Captain looks at her pointedly and squeezes her hand. And apology for their earlier fight.

“Oh no, he didn’t mean-” Captain Lance starts but Gideon isn’t in the mood for more apologies.

“If we want to go back to 1916 then we are going to need the Waverider,” Gideon said.

“I was hoping you would still have it,” her Captain looks at her.

Gideon smiles and makes her way to her desk and uses her key to open the bottom drawer, pulling out the toy spaceship from so long ago, “You were right. I couldn’t just burn it. Eobard must have used the Atom technology to shrink it. I’m sure Dr. Palmer can reverse the effects.”

“Of course, we’re going to want to be on the roof for this though, before security catches us,” Dr. Palmer reassures them all.

Gideon and Captain Hunter choose to trail after the team and her Captain takes the isolation to begin the conversation, “I’m sorry. About earlier.”

“Our argument? Or our kiss?” she asks cheekily.

She can see her Captain try and hide a smile, “Our argument obviously. You know I never meant-”

“I know, Captain. I know you care for me, human or not.”

“Yes, well,” Captain Hunter clears his throat, “Besides, I would never apologize for kissing you. I liked it.”

“So did I,” Gideon admits, “I assumed the kiss was the apology for our argument.”

“No, that would hardly be a proper apology,” Captain Hunter shakes his head, “No, I was just happy to see you remember. And I suppose I rather missed being called Captain.”

Gideon smiled as they wait for Dr. Palmer to resize the Waverider, “They do realize that by going back in time we become the time aberrations ourselves?”

“If they haven’t yet, they will soon enough.”

“If this works, we will never have existed,” Gideon says softly.

He turns to look at her, “I’m sorry. You deserve so much better than this.”

“It’s okay, Captain. Perhaps some things are not meant to be. Like me being a human.”

Dr. Palmer finally has the Waverider back to normal and they can hear security running up the stairs. Captain Lance is now calling her to fly the ship as none of them can fly manually. As she runs over to the rest of the team she hears the response from her Captain, “Maybe some things should always happen.”

\--

Things were not going to plan so far.

They had lost Dr. Palmer almost immediately, and then the new plan was to have the men try and steal the Spear of Destiny from the other versions of the team. That of course required Gideon to stay in hiding with Captain Lance and Mr. Jackson, she wasn’t human in this version of events.

But somehow they had been found out and Gideon had to reveal herself. And her Captain – he was her Captain no matter what version or reality – was the only one that stopped the ensuing violence from hurting Captain Lance further. And then they had to meet with the rest of the team, which led to more questions. Especially once concerning Gideon being human, and where the missing members of the team were. She kept close to her version of her Captain during the group meeting, trying to avoid her other Captain’s eyes on her. Honestly the different versions and amount of Captains was getting rather exhausting to keep track of. Then the timequakes began.

It was only by miracle that they managed to land safely. Well almost all of them.

“My Gideon didn’t make it, did she?” Captain Hunter asked.

“The Waverider wasn’t built to handle this many paradoxes. And trying to fly the Waverider with these paradoxes, it would never work,” Gideon answered sadly, “And if the Waverider cannot survive, then neither can I.” A version of her was essentially dead, at least she was already turned off so she wouldn’t have felt it. Her lifespan was always dependent on that of the ship’s.

“Unless you’re human,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but even I won’t exist for much longer, not if everything goes to plan,” Gideon corrected.

She felt him look over her shoulder and turned to see her Captain looking at them when she turned back to the Captain in front of her he simply answered, “Time wants to happen. We’ll see what happens.”

Her Captain always did like his cryptic speeches.

The battle against the Legion continued and there was more bloodshed and Gideon watched as one by one her team fell. Her friends. Then her Captain fell to the ground and it was as if she couldn’t breathe.

She might have screamed, she might not have. The seconds stretched out and blurred together all at once. A strange feeling for someone so used to understanding time in nonlinear format. It took too long to reach his side, to drop to the ground next to him and try and feel a pulse. But it was already too late. Tears streaked down her cheek as she pressed a hand to his chest desperately trying to feel a heartbeat, her other hand caressing his face. But it was all in vain.

Around her, Gideon was vaguely aware of the infinite speedsters zipping around but none of them came close to her. Then she saw a black blur and Eobard was torn apart. Good. And she knew rather than watched the team’s bodies disappear. She only had eyes for her Captain as his body faded into nothing. Her Captain, her anchor was gone.

But…she was still here.

She looked up at the Legends surrounding her. Surreptitiously she wiped her face, “I’m still here. Why didn’t I disappear too?”

“I don’t know, what’s going on? Why didn’t she disappear, Rip?” Captain Lance addressed the question behind her. Gideon turned and found Captain Hunter holding out a hand for her to take, it did seem rather pointless to continue crying over nothing but grass now.

“Like I’ve said before Ms. Lance,” Captain Hunter started as he pulled Gideon up from the ground. He wiped a stray tear that was threatening to leak out of her eye, “Sometimes time wants to happen. I suppose reality does too. Perhaps Gideon was always meant to be human.”

Gideon let in a shuddering breath, letting all the grief leave her body as she took in the implications. Captain Hunter simply wrapped his arms around her, hugging her protectively and soothingly. Her Captain, in any version of reality. It was like coming home.


End file.
